ASMan

Greetings ... I've been a fan of this forum for many years and rarely post, but AS has recently done something that makes ZERO sense to me.

I'm a travel agent and confirmed First Class (paid FULL First Class FASR fare) for AS16, SEA-MCO 10/15 and received the following message from AS:
AS FLT16 15OCT SEAMCO OVRBKD IN FC/LOOKING
FOR VOL WLNG TO CHNG FLT OR DWNGRD IN EXCH
FOR COMP/PLS CTC PAX TO ADVISE AND CTC
ALASKAAIR IF WILLING TO CHNG OR WITH
QUESTIONS/THANK YOU

I called Alaska Concierge Desk and they too were shocked by what is going on. After some investigation, it appears AS oversold First Class and if they do NOT get volunteers to switch, Alaska will bump the last ticketed passenger into Economy Class!!!! Is AS now overselling First Class? How often does this happen? HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? (I was assured my clients were not the last booked into First Class, but still am cautious). Thank you in advance.

rustykettel

738 F cabin only had 12 seats (and Airbii only have 8 currently). If it's swapped from a 16 F seat 739, instant oversale. Unless you mean they are selling more than those without a swap?

UAPremierExec

I'm flying MCO/SEA on Monday and both planes are -900s.

Odd that Alaska would downgrade to an -800, its been a while since I've been on one to MCO.

CDKing

And people say AS doesn't sell F seats. Most flights that week look to be full or close to full in F. At least they are reaching out in advance. Other carriers you may not know F is oversold until the gate

3Cforme

What other U.S. carriers oversell domestic F?

ASMan

Not a swap (yet). When I sold it was a -900 and still a -900. If AS is expecting a plane swap, they should do it now to prevent chaos at the airport on day of departure. I think AS needs to align all aircraft w/the same number of First Class seats and same seat numbers (then again, I may find a genie in a bottle on a beach someday).

CDKing

United but a least they give a nice bonus in addition to fare difference.

dayone

To be clear, AS did not oversell F, the F cabin may become oversold due an equipment change.

channa

AS (and same with UA since they were mentioned) don't deliberately oversell F. Operational changes such as equipment swaps or last minute must ride pilots or FAM or anything else of the sort could mess them up a bit and cause this scenario, but they don't deliberately do it.

Kind of how JetBlue has denied boardings despite a policy not to oversell. Stuff happens.

Single_Flyer

Who oversold it then?

UpgradeMe

Already answered.

Often1

Why are so many people talking about an oversell when the OP makes clear by cutting and pasting the AS TA message which clearly and in plain English states that there is an overbooking? There is no oversale. The latter only occurs when more properly ticketed passengers show up to the gate than there are seats in the cabin in question.

Why has an overbooking occurred? As a TA, OP should not be surprised. Other than intentional RM/IM reasons, aircraft subs result in overbookings as do "must flies" and also near-term INOP seats and the like.

What is crazy is the AS downgrade order. Most carriers downgrade in the reverse of upgrade order. Thus, a paid full F seat would only be downgraded if all other seats were also full F and the passenger had higher status.

Single_Flyer

So Alaska didn't oversell it, they overbooked it? Is that what you are trying to say?

rustykettel

OP states that it's still a 16 F seat 739, and EF shows the same. Eighteen days out is a bit early for FAM or must ride bumps or an inop seat.

jsguyrus